Giro Rosa 2017 – Stage 8 Review

Jul 8
cyclical

There haven’t been too many surprises in this year’s Giro Rosa, so Lucinda Brand’s victory on stage 8 was the triumph of a rider we’d expect to see excel on such tough terrain. It was how she did it that was the big talking point … guts, dynamism and determination.

It was gruppo compatto for the first stretch as the peloton kept things in check on what was nominally the Queen stage of the race, a rack of unclassified climbs on another brutal day.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWQQ1p7nSXj/

First to escape was Ane Santesteban (Alé Cipollini), and she went through the intermediate TV sprint at Castelnuova alone. She was caught soon after by her team-mate Janneke Ensing and Lensworld-Kuota’s Tetiana Riabchenko. The Ukrainian forged away alone as Ensing was joined by Sunweb’s Brand and another former Dutch champion, Anouska Koster (WM3).

Riabchenko had almost 90 seconds over the top of the only classified climb of the day, at Cuccaro Vetere. In the main field, there were some tentative attacks by the GC contenders, as Ensing, Brand and Koster chased Riabchenko.

https://youtu.be/7oxMja_UYYI

On the descent, Brand dropped her companions and hurtled downwards like a parachutist in freefall, slicing into Riabchenko’s lead, and catching the Ukrainian inside five kilometers to ride … before promptly crashing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWR5WW_lPDP/

Brand remounted, and chased down a shattered Riabchenko a second time, soloing clear to a third career stage win at the Giro Rosa.

The GC contenders finished together a minute and a half later, but the margin of victory was enough to catapult Brand from outside the top ten into fifth overall with two stages left.

Van Der Breggen survived relatively comfortably, and knows she has really two more tricky stages to navigate before claiming the overall title once again, even if her thoughts might not have always been on the race.

Stage 8 Result, Baronissi-Palinuro, 141.8kms

1 Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb)   3hrs 46′ 10”

2 Tetiana Riabchenko (Lensworld-Kuota)   + 12”

3 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans)   + 1′ 33”

4 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica-Scott)

5 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5)

6 Anna Van Der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans)

7 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (WM3 Pro Cycling)

8 Amanda Spratt (Orica-Scott)

9 Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels-Dolmans)   all same time

10 Claudia Lichtenberg (Wiggle-High5)   +1′ 36”

 

Overall After Stage 8

1 Anna Van Der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans)   19hrs 24′ 57”

2 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5)   + 1′ 03”

3 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica-Scott)   + 1′ 39”

4 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans)   + 3′ 07”

5 Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb)   + 3′ 26”